It is known that after a step of texturizing the surface, silicon substrates undergo a wet chemical etching step to clean the surface of the silicon substrate, i.e. to remove the layer of silicon oxide (SiO2) that forms naturally on the surface of the substrate. That wet chemical method is known from the document by Karen Reinhardt and Werner Kern “Handbook of Semiconductor Wafer Cleaning Technology”, 2nd edition (2007).
That wet chemical cleaning method requires the use of solutions such as those based on hydrofluoric acid (HF), for example, and deionized water.
However, the relatively large quantity of deionized water and chemicals used in those wet processes represents a major source of pollution and incurs high fabrication costs.